


Encounters

by giftheck



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:47:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28178625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/giftheck/pseuds/giftheck
Summary: A short tale of Ben meeting Pennywise in the present day, during his search through Derry for his token.
Kudos: 3





	Encounters

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, and welcome to something that I’ve been toying with doing for a little while. I wanted to do a story with a ‘missing’ Pennywise encounter. I chose to write a new Ben encounter with Pennywise as in It Chapter 2 he doesn’t actually have one as an adult. We see him go into the school and we see young Ben’s encounter with Pennywise, but Ben just walks in, reminisces, and walks right out, and he already has his token. I know technically Mike didn’t have one on-screen either, but he did have one filmed.

_Derry Middle School, 2016_

_“You think I could love anybody as fat, and gross, and disgusting as you? No matter how many stupid poems you **write!** ”_

_“Kiss me, fat boy!”_

_“Oh, nobody wants to kiss the faaaaat boy!”_

Ben stood in the hallway, staring at the place his locker had been, twenty-seven years before. It had long since been repainted, its vulgar graffiti long-gone. The memory of his summer encounter with It was fresh in his mind, and fear coursed through him.

As Ben turned to leave, the sound of rattling and scraping metal caught his ears. Ben didn’t want to turn back around to see whatever it was that was causing the noise that, apparently, went unnoticed by anybody in nearby classrooms, even though it was impossible _not_ to hear.

But turn around he did. The door to the locker that had once been his was shaking on its hinges, and something was clawing at the inside. It reminded Ben of a scene from _Ghostbusters_ , where a demon was clawing its way into Dana Barrett’s apartment.

A loud bang shook the locker and the door spilled open. Ben was on the back foot, expecting to see Pennywise leaping out at him, as he had back then. But, instead, balloons started floating out of the locker, red as blood.

A thick, evil chuckle escaped the locker.

“ _Have you come back for that kiss, fat boy?_ ” the clawing voice said. “ _Have you come back to Derry just to kiss the clown? Oh, I can smell the stink of your fear. You want to run while you still can, before it gets dark tonight… you’re too old to stop me now, fat boy… All of you are too old._ ”

Ben stepped back as a pair of hands reached out from the darkness and grasped at the edges of the locker. Whatever was in the locker hauled itself out. Strips of fabric hung off dried-up, rough skin. Its eyes were gone, Its eyelids crumpled into Its eye sockets. Its lips pulled back to reveal blackened and crooked teeth.

It was a mummy. Except it looked far more real to Ben than any television or movie prop. And suddenly, Ben remembered that he had seen this mummy before. It had taken that form, during their attack on It in the sewers.

“ _Don’t you want to give me the kiss of life, fat boy?_ ” It said. “ _What’s the matter? Am I not hot? Are you sad that my hair isn’t winter fire?_ ”

Upon saying that, Its head set alight as it ambled towards Ben. Ben had the distinct feeling that the shuffling was purposeful, that It was mocking him.

And, suddenly, It launched itself at Ben, hands outstretched, nails growing from the withered fingers, its jaws wide open. Ben stumbled backwards, turned around and ran.

“ _Nowhere to run, Benny. I’m everywhere. I’m in your nightmares. I’m in your daydreams! I am in every house, around every corner, under every sewer! I am Derry!_”

Ben rounded the corner, yanked the door open and ran outside. Turning back, expecting those hands to still be coming for him, Ben was relieved to find that It had gone.

Ben took a moment to gather himself, looking round. He knew this place.

“ _Are you gonna let me by, or is there a secret password?_ ”

This entrance was where he had first talked to Beverly. This was where she had told him that Bowers was waiting at a different entrance. And this was where…

Ben pulled his wallet from his pocket, opened it, and removed the page from it. It was a page from his yearbook.

And it had only one signature on it: Beverly Marsh.

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve never written for this before. But this was an idea I have had for a while now and today was the day I got it out there. It’s short, but these scenes in the film weren’t very long to begin with and I didn’t feel that it was necessary to go over the exact same ground as the film with regards to Ben’s flashback. I had a couple of other ideas (one of them being an alternative version of Bill’s flashback and present-day encounter with It) but… maybe I’ll do that one in the future, maybe not.


End file.
